Contents

Gameplay

Overview

A party of four player characters must travel across various themed worlds to collect all of the magical orbs called magi. The party must collect enough magi before they can open the door to the next world. Whether on the overworld map or deep inside the dungeons, the party randomly encounters enemies that come in groups at a time (up to a maximum of three groups of eight concurrently). Unlike most RPGs, Final Fantasy Legend 2 does not use an experience-and-level system. Character development differs among the four classes, detailed in a later section. Also unlike other RPGs, items, weapons and abilities have a finite number of uses before they disappear or become unavailable until replaced or replenished by resting at an inn.

Control

'A' button:

Select the current menu item as indicated by a hand icon.

'B' button:

Exit or backtrack the menu. Also, if on the map screen and the party has a fifth member, pressing the 'B' button will allow the fifth party member to give a hint on the current situation.

'Select' button:

Change the order of your party's four main characters. Members at the top are more likely to be targeted during combat and, as a result, more likely to sustain damage.

'Start' button:

Enter the main menu screen. From here, the player can see an overview of the each party member's HP (Hit Points) and status, GP (FFL2 currency), and Magi count. A menu on the left side of the screen allows the player to see the each party's members in more detail, including his or her abilities and attributes; to use or discard items in the shared inventory; to equip or unequip; to access a Magi screen for using and equipping Magi; to select Notes to review a game journal; and to save the game onto up to three memory locations.

Character classes

Human (Male, Female)

These characters gain strength, maximum HP, and agility by fighting; however, they do not learn innate magic abilities and must purchase magic books, which run out after a finite number of uses, to use spells.

Mutant (Male, Female)

Like humans, these characters gain strength, HP, and agility by fighting. However, they gain strength more slowly than humans. To make up for this, they learn up to four innate magic spells and resistances, which may be recharged as often as desired by resting. As an improvement from the previous game, the player can choose which skill to be overwritten when a new one is learned by having it the last one in the ability list.

Robot

These characters gain strength, maximum HP, defense, and agility based on the items they have equipped, and have permanent immunity from Paralysis and Poison. Once a robot equips an item with a finite number of uses and is not a Skill, e.g. Punch, Kick, the robot will be able to use that item as if it were an innate magic spell that recharges after resting. Robots are generally the best characters to use expensive items with low number usage such as Tanks because they can recharge them. Such items lose 50% of their original number of uses (rounding down if original number is odd) when equipped to a Robot and lose 50% of remaining available uses once removed from a Robot. Unlike other characters, Robots can equip multiple identical categories of armor: while a human and mutant can only wear one helmet, a Robot can have as many as seven helmets equipped. Due to a glitch or oversight in programming, Robots gain HP when items are added but do not lose them when items are removed, enabling a player to fully recharge a Robot's HP by repeatedly removing and re-equipping a single piece of armor.

Monster (many different types)

These characters become either more or less powerful by eating the meat of defeated monsters. They can regress into weaker monster types if they eat the meat of weaker monsters. It is difficult to win the game using four monsters as a party, as they are often left underpowered for the more dangerous bosses. However, with strategic eating of meat and use of monsters that fit the current situation, they can triumph (for example, they can become Boulders in Venus's sewers by eating the meat of certain monsters found there. A Boulder can use StoneGas to instantly defeat Venus).

Attributes

Each character (friend and foe alike) have these five attributes:

HP

HP (hit points) represents a character's life force. When HP goes to zero or less, that character becomes stunned and is removed from the combat. Members may be revived if another member uses an Elixir, Life potion, or Heart Magi on the stunned character. If all party members are stunned, they lose the battle and must plead with Odin to be returned to the last battle. Otherwise, the game is over. However, after a victorious battle, all stunned members are revived with 1 HP. HP can be cured with potions and magic during or outside of combat.

STR

STR (strength) determines the damage output of many physical weapons and abilities.

DEF

DEF (defense) reduces the amount of physical damage incurred on a successful hit. For non-monster classes, DEF can be improved by wearing armor pieces on various parts of the body (head, torso, hands, and feet); Humans and Mutants can also improve defense by using shields or the Defend sword in battle.

AGL

AGL (agility) determines the chances of successfully hitting with and evading from most physical melee and ranged weapons, including many monster-only abilities. Some weapons also rely on AGL for the amount of damage being dealt.

MANA

MANA determines the amount of damage dealt and resisted from magical abilities and spellbooks, and one's chances of hitting or evading from spells that cause ailments (such as paralysis and sleep.)

Ailments

The eight status ailments are Ston, Curs, Blnd, Stun, Slep, Para, Pois, and Conf. Healing is automatic after battle for all conditions except Blnd and Ston. Loss of stats is temporary until the ailment is healed. Healing is also done with Heal skill, proper potions, Elixier, and after being stunned.

Stun and Ston:

A stunned or stoned character is basically dead. A stunned character is revived after battle with 1 HP. A stoned character remains stoned unless he is healed with Soft Potion or Elixier.

Slep, Para:

Characters put to sleep or paralyzed lose their turns until they wake up or break out of paralysis.

Conf:

Confused characters act with a random skill or weapon they have and may attack their own teammates.

Pois:

A poisoned character loses HP of about 10% of their max HP at the end of every turn. It also affects damage returned by counter-attacks. Skills based on Poison cause either damage or this ailment, not both.

Blnd:

Blind characters lose half their agility, and it also affects damage based on agility. Blindness stays after battle.

Curs:

Those who are cursed lose half their strength and defense, but it leaves after battle.

Magi

There are 77 Known Magi that compose the Goddess Isis:

Power: increases Strength

Defense: increases Defense

Mana: increases Mana power

Speed: increases Agility

Poison: grants Poison Resistance, both the condition and element

Fire: grants Fire Resistance

Ice: should grant Ice Resistance, but due to a glitch it grants Thunder Resistance

Thunder: should grant Thunder Resistance, but due to a glitch is grants Ice Resistance

Pegasus: Teleportation Magi

Masmune: a Magi used in battle as a sword that never misses and does high constant damage

Prism: Acts like a Magi Radar

True Eye: grants the ability to see in bright places easily

Aegis: a Magi used as in battle as a shield that blocks all physical attacks and grants Elemental resistance to the party

In Addition to these 77, there is 1 extra Magi that is special to the story

Heart: Revives all fallen comrades in battle

Plot

Story

In this game, the player visits twelve distinct worlds, in addition to the Celestial World and the Shrine at its center. The goal of the game is to collect the varied pieces of MAGI scattered around the different worlds which are fragments of a statue of the Goddess Isis. These MAGI pieces can also be equipped by your characters to increase stats or grant special abilities.

In the English version, the worlds are:

Home World

Obviously named from the player's perspective, this is the world where the player starts. The player's hometown is here and the adventure begins at the player's house. The world contains the Shrine of Isis, where Ki can be found, and also contains Ashura's base, an outpost of the evil Ashura's domain.

Ashura's World

A desert reminiscent of the Wild West ruled by the evil Ashura, who lives atop Ashura's Tower. The main overworld consists of a swirling desert with cacti to guide the player to the only desert town in this world. The goal here is to climb the 10 stories of Ashura's Tower and to defeat Ashura. Along the way, the player will meet up with a man very similar to their father, who is simply known as a masked man. Possibly due to translation, it is unknown weather this is the player's father in disguise or another character's (met later) father who went missing on a mission.

Giant's World

A world that used to be ruled by Giants, who are believed to be extinct. The player is formally reunited with his father for the first time and meets Johnny, who is rumored to be a Giant in disguise, though the player must express disbelief in this rumor in order to obtain instructions on how to access the Micron that helps save Ki (who has fallen under sickness).

Ki's Body

A world within the body of Ki that is accessed through using the Micron on Ki. The player must travel through Ki's body and defeat the parasites that are causing the illness.

Apollo's World

This is a world ruled by Apollo and is considerably bigger than the previous worlds. The player meets the main antagonist Apollo, currently posing as a friend as he gives the party a Magi for free and seems grateful that they defeated Ashura. Lynn, who has a connection to the main character's father, is found here; she must be rescued from a cave ruled by Dunatis, a robot that makes the wind blow in that cave. Other missions include traveling to an underwater volcano and going to a cave so bright that nothing distinctive can be seen, all to find MAGI.

Base World

Essentially one big town, this world hosts the base of the Guardians. The player's father can be found here and is the leader of the Guardians. The town ultimately gets attacked by the gods and destroyed.

Ninja's World

This world only contains a mountain path. Lynn is kidnapped and brought here by an evil ninja. After defeating the ninja, the player's father apparently sacrifices himself to save Lynn.

Venus' World

Venus City, where only beautiful people with no physical deformities are allowed, is the focus of this world. Anybody with a twinge of ugliness, or any sort of scar, is exiled to the jungle, the outer areas outside of the city walls. Leon, a man that was going to marry Flora, now lives in a hut outside the city because he sustained an injury to his leg. The human Flora is now to marry an imp named Nils by order of Venus, goddess of this world. The player must eventually reunite Leon and Flora and defeat the evil Venus. Points of attraction here are the volcano (which arises after story progression) and the sewer underneath Venus City.

Racing World

The only feature to note here is the racing course. Apollo can be found here and he awards MAGI for winning the dragon race. The player must pick a dragon to race on, but the player is destined to win the race because the other racers are attacked by monsters let loose by Apollo. Choosing the slowest (and cheapest) dragon will result in the player avoiding all the monster battles, except for the final battle (hence the cafe owner's hint "The longest way 'round is the shortest way home!").

Edo

Edo is a world reminiscent of the Tokugawa Shogunate. A large world named after the old name of Tokyo, bananas are inexplicably banned here. The player must stop a gang of banana smugglers called the Hatamoto and led by the evil Echigoya from executing a plot to smuggle a very large shipment of bananas in. It turns out that the Shogun (written as Sho-gun in the game) himself is behind the plot and the player must go into his castle to stop him. The Shogun turns out to be dominated by a shadowy figure named Magnate, whose origins and nature are shrouded in mystery (besides Sho-Gun calling him daddy, another possible translation error). It should be noted that "opium" was changed to "bananas" in the US version, due to Nintendo's censorship policy. [1]

Nasty Dungeon

The only feature of note here is a dungeon where many rare items can be found. The player can easily take this world's one and only MAGI near the entrance (Pegasus), or explore deeper and find more powerful weapons, armor, and enemies. Special items found here include the Murasame, Hyper Cannon, Glass Sword, and Gung-nir.

Valhalla

A world resting on clouds, Valhalla, home of Odin, can be found here. Valhalla has many rare, powerful items and Odin himself is its boss. The player must defeat not only Odin, but 3 of his cronies, 2 of the OdinCrow and the Sleipner. With a bit of luck, Odin will drop his Gung-nir Spear as a reward once he is defeated -- one of the most powerful weapons in the game, of which only one other copy is available in the Nasty Dungeon. Odin seems much more established than the other gods. Before this battle, when the player dies, there is a scene where the party is resurrected by Odin. If you were defeated and resurrected in such a manner, you will have a conversation with Odin prior to and after the battle. If you succeeded in going through the game without being defeated once, no conversation will ensue. After this battle, Odin will no longer resurrect your party if defeated.

Final World

Obviously named from the player's perspective. At the beginning, Apollo reveals his plot to have you gather the Magi for him. He then steals all their MAGI after teleporting all their previous friends to the location and threatening to destroy them. The party then gives him all the MAGI. When it seems like Apollo can make himself a supergod, the player's father appears and says that another MAGI can be found, one whose existence was a secret to prevent a supergod from being formed. This final Magi is in a cave guarded by WarMech. After defeating the WarMech, the player can advance to the Celestial Shrine.

Celestial World

This is the world that connects all others and is used by the player to travel from one to the next.

The Celestial Shrine

A world in itself and the final location. The player will battle the evil Apollo here and reconstruct Isis, the original goddess, using all 78 MAGI. After defeating Apollo, the player must then begin the long journey down the Celestial Shrine, which is becoming increasingly unstable and whose instability has the potential to cause the Celestial World to collapse on top of all the worlds. The player must fight the TianLung and the Fenrir as well as the optional battle with the Haniwa before finally arriving to fight the Celestial Shrine's defense system, Arsenal. After defeating Arsenal, Isis stays behind to restore stability to the world while the player heads home.

Development

*In Edo, the English version has a student practice their English grammar. In the original Japanese, they will speak in katakana telling you to "PURIZU DONTU PRAY DISU GAEMU" (a romanized version of the English term, "Please don't play this game".).

*In Edo, you play two scenarios. The first being a tagalong to a non-violent detective ala Nomura Kodo's (1882-1963) tales of Zenigata Heiji. In the second part, you team up with a samurai and re-enact more "chambara" (sword-clashing) type stories, such as Samurai Jubei or Ruroni Kenshin. [2]